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Love Your Neighbor Cookbook & Almanac
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What a blessing to have been raised in Memphis by a country cook who knew what she was doing. Good cooking was just a way of life in our household and among our extended family. My mother prepared the best fried chicken in Tipton County (We grew up in Memphis, but our reunions were in Tipton County.) according to my aunts, uncles, cousins, and great aunts & uncles; I have no reason to doubt their words of praise. I saw at every family reunion whose chicken was the first to go. And my mother wasn’t the only good cook in our house.
My daddy was a master at the grill and could throw together a variety of tasty snacks inside as well. He specialized in oyster stew & Bleu Cheese Dressing; and sitting down with Daddy as we built snacks of smoked oysters, cheeses, crackers, olives, and anything else he could scrape together was a banquet in itself.
The blog entries below come from recipes we enjoy around our household; from recipes I’ve yet to try; from recipes given me by friends and family, and things I’ve read about on line or in real print. Yes, I do still subscribe to magazines that come in the mail. Also there are posts about cooking equipment, techniques, sources for more information, etc. I hope you find something of interest.
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DPJC BLOG
Souvlakia #2
I did a version of Souvlakia today, and we were quite pleased. Ingredients 2 pounds pork country ribs; cut into 1" dice 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup Soy sauce 1/4 vinegar black pepper salt onion powder garlic powder thyme basil oregano 1 yellow bell pepper; cleaned and...
Quesadillas with Chicken and Kale
Yes, I know it sounds strange, but trust me on this. One of the fun things we do around here is play "stump the cook." Sherry will say, "I'm getting a bit hungry; can you fix me up a little something?" Magic words I LOVE to hear. *S* Nothing is more fun for me than...
REVEALING HEAVEN
Our good friend, the Rev. John W. Price, has written about his conversations with over 200 people who've had a "near death experience." His book, REVEALING HEAVEN - The Christian Case for Near Death Experiences, is available online and in bookstores now....
More about Dumplings
Growing up in the south in the home of one of the finest country cooks in west Tennessee, I acquired an early appreciation for a good dumpling. An old Kraft Foods rep I used to do business with years ago gave me a simple dumpling recipe that works well. I think,...
Cornmeal Dumplings with Greens
Our neighbor made these for us, and we thought they were fabulous. I finally got around to trying it myself. Easy to do, and very tasty. Ingredients 1 lb. smoked turkey necks or wings 1 bunch collard greens 2 or 3 turnips, peeled and cut into a large dice 1 onion,...
Slow Cooker Candied Carrots
While watching the Hungry Girl show on the Cooking Channel. I started to type out the instructions when she posted her web address. Duh! Ingredients 1/4 cup apricot preserves (low sugar) 2 T brown sugar 1 1/2 T butter (lite spread) 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon...
Roasted Garlic and Onion with Shrimp
Sherry asked me to cook something, and I said, "But we have nothing to work with." She knew better and invited me to figure out something. I roasted most of the vegetables in a dry skillet. Toward the end, I did drizzle a bit of olive oil in the pan to prevent...
Pork, Cabbage and Hominy Stew
This was going to be a version of green chile and cabbage dish Sherry loves so much. But I didn't bother to look up the recipe, and just winged it. This is what happened. I don't have a slow cooker big enough to hold it all, but I bet it would be a natural for those...
Wilted Kale
Sherry picked up a bunch of Kale, and I had no idea what to do with it. Let's just say it wasn't something we saw much of in the Byrd household when I was a child. Turnip greens, mustard greens, collards? You bet. But Kale? I don't know. Sounds so "arugula" to me. *S*...
Shrimp with Sweet Potatoes
Sherry said she wanted a snack, so I threw this together in a hurry. I already had the creamed sweet potatoes in the fridge. So I just quickly pan fried some shrimp in butter; warmed the sweet potatoes in the microwave; then topped the potatoes with the shrimp, a few...
Carnitas
Found this interesting approach to Carnitas. Tried it on Jan. 24th with country style ribs rather than a roast. I put most in a 2 liter corningware, and the rest in a small cast iron skillet. I covered both with foil. After 3 hours in a 250 F oven, the ribs in the...
Pollock and Shrimp Pan Fry
We had some pollock fillets down from the freezer that had thawed a couple of days ago. Along with other good stuff we had on hand, this turned out to be a pretty darned good breakfast. Not traditional by any stretch of the imagination, but the sort of thing I love...
Seafood Combo
Ingredients 1 lb. frozen Seafood Combo 1 lb good smoked sausage or Andouille cut into bite sized pieces 4 yellow onions (peeled) 15 ounce can of tomatoes in their juice 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 green pepper, cleaned and chopped 1 can chopped clams with juice 3 cups...
Christmas Dinner
When we first planned for Christmas Dinner, it was going to be Sherry, Sam, me, and possibly Sam's housemate Jeff. I had pretty big plans for a variety of non-traditional menu items. The question of whether to expect Jeff wasn't really an issue; we had plenty either...
Crock Pot "BBQ"
A work mate of Sherry's gave her this recipe, and I thought it looked promising. Haven't tried this yet, and I probably will not put beef in mine. Thanks to Hanh Nguyen for this. Ingredients 1 1/2 lbs beef cubed stew meat (beef roast) 1 1/2 lbs lean cubed pork...
A Walk in the Park
We are lucky to have a city park and a public elementary school right down the street from our end of the culdesac. The dog loves to take a walk around the park and school grounds, and today, for the first time we toured the on-campus Urban Harvest Garden. The...
Southern Style Biscuits
My grandmother used to make about 2 dozen of these every morning. She made enough so there would be leftovers for the dogs. I'd stand on the back porch and throw biscuits to Toby and Bullet; they'd catch them in midair and practically swallow them whole. Ingredients ...
Links
These are links to sites having to do with food and cooking. I've set up another page for links to things having nothing to do with cooking. aluminum foil faq Thanks to Reynolds amazing ribs asparagus recipes - California Asparagus Commission beer can...
Girls at Work
These are some of our students at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. They are SO much fun. Note the mural in the background. We have some fabulous artists at Palmer. Here are links to two of them who did the mural. Jackie Campbell and Katee Esser. (Kelley Bourgeois is...
Seafood and Guacamole Enchiladas
I make up a seafood salad from mock crab meat. It's great for sandwiches or in a tortilla wrap. I served Sherry a wrap, and she suggested I heat it up next time. So I decided to try this combination. Ingredients 2 cups seafood salad2 cups guacamolecolby-jack cheese,...
Seafood Salad
In always liked the seafood sandwiches served by Subway, so I tried to emulate their recipe. Ingredients 1 lb. mock seafood, flake style 4 ounces cream cheese, softened 3 green onions, minced 1 tomato, finely chopped 1/2 cup mayonnaise 14 ounce can black olives,...
Trinidadian Style Chicken Stew
Saw this interesting looking dish on Roger Mooking's "Everyday Exotic" program on the Cooking Channel. It's made my To-Do list. He also also featured Plantain Gratin and a Pickled Topping recipes that look worth checking out.
BBQ Sauce ala Emeril
Looking for a recipe for BBQ pizza, I ran across one used by Emeril Lagasse. This isn't exactly the way Emeril did it, but it's close. We did this up tonight with some slow smoked pulled pork I did on the grill on the Fourth, and it was excellent. The sauce turned out...
Onion Sauce for Pasta
Had some extra onions on hand so I decided to see if I could find a recipe for an onion sauce to go over pasta. It's on the stove right now. Note: Not finished yet, but the long slow cooking really reduces the volume of onions. I started with 6 cups and it looks like...
Crab Quesadilla
Sherry asked me to whip her up something, so I found a can of crab meat in our pantry and decided to go from there. One can of crab meat is enough for two well stuffed quesadillas. I make up one for Sherry, and while she's enjoying, I make up a second one for me....
Red Beans in the Crock Pot
We have a routine we fell into around here for making chicken stock over the weekend; we time this not because it's a weekend, but because our solid waste visits on Tuesday mornings. (Yes, we make cooking decisions based partly on what to do with the waste. In...
Seafood Pasta
Ingredients 1/4 cup chopped onion2 garlic cloves, crushed1 teaspoon butter1 teaspoon olive oil1/2 lb shrimp1/2 lb scallops1 (6 1/2 ounce) can clams, not drained1 1/2 cups chicken broth1 teaspoon basil2 tablespoons parsley1/2 teaspoon paprika1/4 teaspoon salt1/4...
Shrimp and Bread Stuffing
We try to keep stock in our freezer at all times. When I'm out of shrimp stock, I purchase wild head-on shrimp; use the shrimp for whatever I feel like doing; and make a stock out of the heads. Just boil the heads with a chopped onion, a couple of chopped carrots and...
Before There Was TV
Acrylics on 11" x 14" canvas --
Banana Bread, Sherry’s
We like to make up this banana bread with a few raisins added.
